NEW DELHI: Somehow, every time I see the @ Pepsi Atom ad, I'm reminded of Thums Up," Ashok Lalla, global head of digital marketing at software major Infosys, tweeted on Tuesday. Anybody would agree.

The launch campaign of Pepsi Atom has brought spoof advertising back to the cola war turf after years as PepsiCo seeks to take on the country's top cola brand Thums Up with its new cola brand that is stronger and fizzier than Pepsi. While the jury is still out on Atom's advertising strategy, industry and marketing experts say PepsiCo will find it extremely difficult to dislodge homegrown Thums Up, which has survived even its owner Coca-Cola's efforts to kill it in the late '90s.

"Thums Up has remained at the top with or without marketing support," says Ramesh Chauhan, who created the brand 36 years back before selling it to Coca-Cola in 1993 for Rs 186 crore. "I don't have to say this: Thums Up is established at the top, whoever the competitors are," he adds.

Biryani with Thums Up is almost a staple diet in Andhra Pradesh, one of the three largest cola markets in the country. This is the second time PepsiCo is trying to destabilise Thums Up, which has the strongest carbonation among all beverages. It had spiked its flagship cola Pepsi with extra fizz in Andhra Pradesh four years ago. The move didn't work.

Atom looks like a more serious attack. PepsiCo says it's its biggest launch in recent years. And it has debuted by directly taking pot shots at Thums Up. "The on-air ad campaign projects the more relevant and relatable definition of masculinity, as opposed to mindless action," says Deepika Warrier, VP — beverage marketing at PepsiCo.

For at least 10 years, Thums Up has been showing extreme daredevilry in its advertising, through actors such as Akshay Kumar and now Salman Khan. The Atom ad shows a macho man getting slapped by a woman after he mistook her husband for a thief and then the smart guy comes and offers him Atom. Industry experts have split opinions on PepsiCo's latest attack on Thums Up. "Placing Atom as another Thums Up won't help PepsiCo in the long term," veteran ad man Santosh Desai says. "But there's a short-term advantage as it gets people talking and creates disruption in the market," he adds.

Rohit Ohri, chairman of Dentsu group, however, thinks the Atom ad works. "Cheeky advertising was Pepsi's DNA in the earlier days, and Atom ads have brought back some of that irreverence," says Ohri, who worked closely with PepsiCo for over a decade when he was at JWT. Denstu-owned Taproot has created the advertising for Atom. He, however, admits that Thums Up is a very strong brand. "Pepsi has always been a challenger brand."

Arvind Sharma, chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett, the creative agency on the Thums Up account for over a decade, declined comment on Atom ads spoofing Thums Up. A Coca-Cola spokesperson too declined to comment on Atom. "Thums Up is the largest soft drink while Coke is the fastest growing," is all the spokesperson says.

According to Coca-Cola insiders, it does not plan to react because it believes Thums Up is too well established in the Rs 14,000-crore soft drinks market with a 15% share. While PepsiCo, which has seen its overall share in the soft-drink market slip to about 37% last year, is placing big bets on Atom, industry insiders don't give it much chance.

"It's an in-and-out brand," a former senior executive of PepsiCo says requesting anonymity. "I don't think it will be around three months hence because bottlers won't push it. It's a surrogate brand," the person adds.

A top bottler associated with the cola industry since three decades says, "Whatever the Atom ads may say, the taste of the product too has to match its promise of machismo...Thums Up is too strong to take on." Ironically, India is the only country where Coca-Cola sells a cola brand that is not a variant of its own umbrella brand Coke. And nowhere in the world is brand Coke the No. 3 cola except in India.

Chauhan, the man who created the brand, says, "Thums Up's success is obvious. Indians like strong taste and rich cuisine...Thums Up goes perfectly well with spicy food."